Woven information bearing devices

Abstract

A woven information bearing device comprising a plurality of woven elements arranged to define a woven information bearing pattern, wherein the woven elements include N woven information bearing elements, N being an integer number; and wherein said N woven information bearing elements define N or more than N data elements.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A woven information bearing device comprising a plurality of woven elements,
 wherein the plurality of woven elements is machine woven and comprises a plurality of woven data bearing elements, 
 wherein the woven data bearing elements are arranged to form a woven information bearing pattern and a data bearing region, 
 wherein each woven data bearing element is coded to represent one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element, 
 wherein each said data element represents a data, a data including a data symbol, a data sign or a data value, 
 wherein the woven information bearing device includes a reference frame or a reference grid to facilitate recovery of data in the data bearing region when the woven information bearing device is subject to distortion in the first direction, distortion in the second direction, or distortion in both the first direction and the second direction, and 
 wherein the reference frame or the reference grid is formed of machine woven weft elements and warp elements. 
 
     
     
       2. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing elements in the data bearing region are woven, coded and distributed or tabulated according to a data table to form the data bearing region, the data table defining the data embedded in the data bearing region and comprising a plurality of data cells and defining tabulation and spatial distribution characteristics of the woven data bearing elements and the data elements. 
 
     
     
       3. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing elements in the data bearing region are woven to embed data coded and distributed or tabulated according to a data defining grid which comprises a plurality of intersecting lines, 
 wherein the intersecting lines intersect to partition the data bearing region into a plurality of data cells, and each data cell is coded with a data element so that the data elements of the data defining grid define data embedded in the data bearing region, and 
 wherein the woven data bearing elements are distributed such that a data cell contains a single woven data bearing element, a portion of a single woven data bearing element, a plurality of adjacently disposed woven data bearing elements, a plurality of portions of a plurality of adjacently disposed woven data bearing elements, or a combination thereof. 
 
     
     
       4. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein a woven data bearing element is color coded, shape coded, or coded in color and shape, and 
 wherein shape coded woven data bearing elements have different shapes, different dimensions, or different shapes and dimensions. 
 
     
     
       5. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the shape coded woven data bearing elements have irregular shapes, non-uniform shapes, non-uniform dimensions, or any combination of irregular shapes, non-uniform shapes, non-uniform dimensions. 
 
     
     
       6. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing elements have same shape, same or different dimensions, or same shape and same or different dimensions. 
 
     
     
       7. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the plurality of woven data bearing elements forming the data bearing region is coded to form a first set of data elements according to a first coding scheme, and 
 wherein the plurality of woven data bearing elements forming the data bearing region is coded to form a second set of data elements according to a second coding scheme. 
 
     
     
       8. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein a woven data bearing element has a first data property carrying a first data meaning according to the first coding scheme, and the woven data bearing element has a second data property carrying a second data meaning according to the second coding scheme. 
 
     
     
       9. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 8 ,
 wherein the first data property is in shape or dimensions, and the second property is in color or grey level. 
 
     
     
       10. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the data bearing region is partitioned according to a first partitioning scheme to define a plurality of first data cells according to the first coding scheme, each first data cell defining a first data element representing a data, and 
 wherein the data bearing region is partitioned according to a second partitioning scheme to define a plurality of second data cells according to the second coding scheme, each second data cell defining a second data element representing a data. 
 
     
     
       11. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 , wherein the woven data bearing element is M-nary coded, M including 2, 3, 4, and 5. 
     
     
       12. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing element comprises a plurality of optically recognizable twisted data sections, and adjacent twisted data sections of a woven data bearing element are delineated by a salient boundary, including a spiral-shaped boundary. 
 
     
     
       13. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 12 , wherein each data section represents one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element. 
     
     
       14. The woven information bearing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the woven information bearing elements comprises weft elements, warp elements, or both weft elements and warp elements; wherein a weft element extends in a first direction and a warp element extends in a second direction which is orthogonal to, substantially orthogonal to, or at an angle to the first direction; and wherein a warp element is intermediate two adjacent weft elements and a weft element is intermediate two adjacent warp elements. 
 
     
     
       15. A method of reading data from a woven information bearing device, the woven information bearing device comprising a plurality of woven elements:
 wherein the plurality of woven elements is machine woven and comprises a plurality of woven data bearing elements, 
 wherein the woven data bearing elements are arranged to form a woven information bearing pattern and a data bearing region, 
 wherein each woven data bearing element is coded to represent one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element, 
 wherein each said data element represents a data, a data including a data symbol, a data sign or a data value; and wherein the woven information bearing device includes a reference frame or a reference grid to facilitate recovery of data in the data bearing region when the woven information bearing device is subject to distortion in the first direction, distortion in the second direction, or distortion in both the first direction and the second direction, 
 wherein the reference frame or the reference grid is formed of machine woven weft elements and warp elements, 
 wherein the method comprises using the reference frame or the reference grid as an alignment device to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region, and 
 wherein the method comprises:
 capturing an image of the woven information bearing device, 
 applying a data reading template to retrieve data coded or formed on the woven information bearing pattern, and 
 processing the data with reference to the data reading template and displaying result of processing. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 15 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing elements in the data bearing region are woven to embed data coded and distributed or tabulated according to a data defining grid which comprises a plurality of intersecting lines, 
 wherein the intersecting lines intersect to partition the data bearing region into a plurality of data cells, and each data cell is coded with a data element so that the data elements of the data defining grid define data embedded in the data bearing region, 
 wherein the data reading template comprises a plurality of data reading cells spatially corresponding to the plurality of data cells of the data defining grid, and 
 wherein the method comprises applying the data reading template to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region. 
 
     
     
       17. An apparatus for retrieving data coded or embedded on a woven information bearing device, wherein the woven information bearing device comprises a plurality of woven elements, the plurality of woven elements being machine woven and comprising a plurality of woven data bearing elements:
 wherein the woven data bearing elements are arranged to form a woven information bearing pattern and a data bearing region, 
 wherein each woven data bearing element is coded to represent one data element, a plurality of data elements, or a portion of a data element, 
 wherein each said data element represents a data, a data including a data symbol, a data sign or a data value, 
 wherein the woven information bearing device includes a reference frame or a reference grid to facilitate recovery of data in the data bearing region when the woven information bearing device is subject to distortion in the first direction, distortion in the second direction, or distortion in both the first direction and the second direction, 
 wherein the reference frame or the reference grid is formed of machine woven weft elements and warp elements, 
 wherein the microprocessor is to apply the reference frame or the reference grid as an alignment device to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region, and when necessary to restore a distorted woven information bearing device to facilitate retrieval of embedded data for subsequent processing of embedded data and display, 
 wherein the apparatus comprises a solid state memory to store an image of the woven information bearing device, and a solid state microprocessor configured to execute stored instructions to recover data or information embedded in the woven information bearing device from the image, and 
 wherein the microprocessor is to apply a data reading template to retrieve data coded or formed on the woven information bearing pattern, and to processing the data with reference to the data reading template and to display result of processing. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus according to  claim 17 ,
 wherein the woven data bearing elements in the data bearing region are woven to embed data coded and distributed or tabulated according to a data defining grid which comprises a plurality of intersecting lines, 
 wherein the intersecting lines intersect to partition the data bearing region into a plurality of data cells, and each data cell is coded with a data element so that the data elements of the data defining grid define data embedded in the data bearing region, and the data reading template comprises a plurality of data reading cells spatially corresponding to the plurality of data cells of the data defining grid, and 
 wherein the microprocessor is to apply the data reading template to facilitate retrieval of data embedded in the data bearing region.